Tag: perpetual war

Genocide Doesn’t Happen Without Language to Incite It

How is information made legitimate, and when is it appropriate for journalists to introduce skepticism? What happens when only one side of a conflict is given the legitimate voice, always repeated and rarely questioned, even when those sources have proven many times to have promulgated lies?

Military studies scholars and analysts understand that there is always a long genesis of historical, political and economic factors that can eventually erupt into conflict. In many ways, US establishment media seemed unwilling or unable (but likely both) to narrate a more complex, historically accurate account of the war on Gaza.

The Intercept (4/15/24) reported that editorial directives at the New York Times and CNN, two of the most important news sources in the US, advised reporters to avoid certain “taboo” words, such as “genocide” and “massacre.” Yet between October 7 and November 24, 2023, the Times used the word “massacre” 53 times—referring to Israelis killed by Palestinians, but only once to refer to a Palestinian killed by Israel (Intercept, 1/9/24).

From November onward, as deaths in Gaza piled up, the Times habitually avoided using emotionally fraught terms for Palestinians. Another term, “ethnic cleansing,” was also barred from use, along with “refugee camps” and “occupied territories.”

As the Times source who leaked the directives said, “You are basically taking the occupation out of the coverage, which is the actual core of the conflict.”

US news outlets were crippled by these verbal restrictions, incapable of offering an accurate explanation of what was happening in Gaza by imposing such constraints on humanitarian language, and international principles and laws.

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Cells of Chinese nationals illegally in US use gift card fraud to fund CCP: ICE director

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons revealed on Thursday that transnational gangs within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have been defrauding the United States via a massive gift card scheme aimed at enriching the Chinese military. The matter was revealed following a Homeland Security Investigation (HSI).

Testifying before Congress, Lyons explained that the US is funding its own adversaries through gift card fraud committed by Chinese illegal aliens who unlawfully entered the United States under the Biden administration. He told lawmakers that the CCP has deployed its transnational criminal organizations to “wreak havoc” on the US.

“HSI actually broke the largest gift card fraud case ever, and it was from transnational gangs within the CCP that were sending that money back to military units in China. And that all came from gift card fraud here in the United States,” the ICE director said.

Lyons contended that “it was military-aged Chinese males who entered under the last administration…that were able to [send the gift cards] back to the People’s Republic of China.”

HSI’s operation “Project Red Hook” revealed how Chinese organized crime groups exploit gift cards to launder money. According to HSI, “organized criminal elements in China acquire gift cards through multiple fraudulent means. For example, gift cards are obtained by hacking US companies and targeting US citizens through romance and elder fraud schemes. The criminal elements then send the gift card data to multiple cells of Chinese nationals operating in the United States through a Chinese-based messaging platform.”

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MoD splashes millions of your cash on luxuries – insulting taxpayer and failing on defence

Britain’s defence is becoming more exposed by the day. Global threats are rising, alliances are under strain, and the nature of warfare is evolving faster than ever. Yet instead of urgency, discipline and focus, but what we see from defence secretary and within the Ministry of Defence is complacency – and worse, a culture of indulgence. In recent days it was revealed that Ministry of Defence staff racked up £16.3 million on taxpayer-funded procurement cards in a single month.

These cards are meant for “low risk, low complexity” purchases – capped at £12,000. Yet dozens of transactions blew straight past that limit. One payment hit nearly £50,000. Another hotel bill came in at over £37,000. This is not an administrative oversight. It is a systemic failure and an insult to every taxpayer.

The details are staggering. Over £133,000 spent on restaurants and bars. Fourteen separate transactions at pubs and nightclubs. One evening alone costing nearly £4,000. Thousands more spent at a snooker hall, a cosmetics shop, even a florist.

And then there are the hotels. £1.4 million in a single month, spread across more than 700 transactions. The Ritz-Carlton. The Four Seasons. Hyatt. Hilton. Five-star luxury, all funded by the British taxpayer.

All of this within the month of March…

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ENERGY WARS: Russia Will Shut Flow of Druzhba Pipeline Oil Into Germany

Druzhba means ‘friendship’, which is nowhere to be found these days.

Today, Ukraine restarted the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline that it kept shut to further boost the election of Péter Magyar.

In exchange for that, the EU was finally able to approve the long-awaited 90 billion Euro loan to Kiev – although it must be noted that both Budapest and Bratislava ‘opted-out’, meaning no Hungarian or Slovak money is part of it.

But there isn’t time to celebrate because, also today, Russia announced that it will close a major oil pipeline into Germany.

The Telegraph reported:

“Russia has announced plans to shut the Druzhba pipeline within nine days, cutting the Continent off from Kazakh oil as it faces supply disruption caused by the Iran war.

The planned closure poses a particular threat to Germany, where the Druzhba pipeline supplies 17pc of the crude oil processed by PCK refinery, which provides 90pc of the fuel used by Berlin’s cars.”

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Netanyahu and Zionism is Pushing the World Towards Economic Catastrophe

As has often been the case since the Iran War has started, the U.S. corporate media, whether “left” leaning or “right” leaning, is reporting news on this war that is far different from what is being reported outside of the U.S. media.

So here are two very recent interviews that are both only about 30 minutes long, giving the “other side” of what actually happened this past weekend with the negotiations in Islamabad, which were “led” by JD Vance, as well as views on the alleged current “blockade” of the Strait of Hormuz by the U.S. military.

The Wall Street Journal had actually published a story stating that the U.S. was going to assassinate the delegation from Iran, which forced them to return to Iran in secret after the meetings ended.

Professor Seyed Marandia, who lives and teaches in Tehran and is a U.S. citizen, was actually at the negotiations, and at the time of this writing this is his most recent interview with Glenn Diesen.

He states that the Iranians fully expect a resumption of attacks by Israel and the U.S., and that they are preparing for it.

He stated “Netanyahu and Zionism is pushing the world towards economic catastrophe,” and he also stated that if they attack Iran’s energy infrastructure again, they will start attacking the infrastructure of the rich Arab Gulf States, starting with the UAE, which he states that they can completely destroy in 1 day.

Marandia also states something that I can personally confirm is true, which is that the Arab States around the Arab Peninsula are heading into their summer season, where it gets unbearably hot, where during the day nobody does anything outside, as it is too hot, and that U.S. soldiers would never survive day operations in such heat.

Iran’s summers, by contrast, do not get that hot, and he said that in Tehran today one can look at the mountains to the north where there is still snow on them, and that one needs a jacket to go outside.

I lived in Saudi Arabia for almost 4 years back in the 1990s, and stayed in the Kingdom through one summer, as I was teaching English at their university, and I made double pay for teaching during the summer as most foreign teachers returned to their home countries in the summer.

Air conditioning during those times is a life and death situation, and when someone’s air conditioning went out in the faculty housing, it was imperative that it was fixed immediately, and they had a large staff running the energy infrastructure, mostly Filipinos at that time.

So when Marandi says that if the power goes down in any of these Gulf States during the hot season EVERYONE will need to leave, he is not lying, but speaking the truth.

In the second interview between Pepe Escobar and Judge Napolitano, Escobar states that the Iranians will NOT return to Islamabad for the second round of “negotiations,” but will only agree to a place in either Russia or China.

Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov is in Beijing today, allegedly assuring China that Russia will continue supplying oil to China if they cannot get it through the Strait of Hormuz.

Escobar also states that there is no actual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz at the present time.

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Trump: “I Expect to Be Bombing” Iran if No Deal Reached Before Ceasefire Ends. POTUS Says Israel Didn’t Talk Him Into War.

As the U.S-Iran peace talks that are scheduled to begin in Pakistan appear suspended, President Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box he was “ready to go” and begin bombing the country again if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has not committed to renew talks with Vice President J.D. Vance and his negotiators, and Vance, Axios reported, has not left for Islamabad. The ceasefire that temporarily ended the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign ends tomorrow.

Trump said the U.S. military used the lull in bombing to restock its munitions, and the military “is raring to go.”

On Truth Social yesterday, Trump again denied that Israel led him into war with Iran, as reported by The New York Times and others.

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Two Iranian Women in ICE Detention Are Not, In Fact, Related to Qasem Soleimani, Documents Show

Two Iranian women remain in immigration detention, arrested earlier this month on accusations of being the niece and grandniece of Qasem Soleimani, despite no connection to the late Iranian military commander. Drop Site reviewed Iranian birth records, identification papers, a family will, and other personal documents and found no connection whatsoever to him or his extended family. One of the women is now seriously ill in a Texas facility, her chronic blood condition left effectively untreated.

On March 8, right-wing activist Laura Loomer posted on X calling for the deportation of a woman she claimed was Soleimani’s niece. The commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj. Gen. Soleimani was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike, ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Baghdad on January 3, 2020. The day after Loomer’s original post, she tagged Secretary of State Marco Rubio on X, claiming to have reported the woman to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for “posting content sympathetic to the Iranian regime and Ayatollah.”

On April 3, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, Sarina Hosseiny, were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at their home outside Los Angeles. Rubio issued a statement headlined, “Secretary Rubio Revokes Green Cards of Foreign Nationals with Ties to Iranian Terror Regime,” identifying them as “the niece and grand niece of deceased Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani” and describing them as “green card holders living lavishly in the United States.”

The claims made headline news in the U.S., while triggering immediate denials from Soleimani’s family that the two women were relatives of the military commander. The Trump administration has gone largely quiet about the women’s cases since their arrest, as they remain in ICE detention pending deportation to Iran.

As attention has faded, the situation for the women has turned dire at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in San Antonio, particularly for Hamideh, 47, who lives with autoimmune hemolytic anemia, which requires regular treatment and blood transfusions she isn’t getting.

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Israeli soldiers and settlers using sexual violence to push Palestinians out – report

Israeli soldiers and settlers are systematically using sexual violence and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank, according to a report by the West Bank Protection Consortium – a group of international humanitarian organizations. 

The report, published on Sunday and titled ‘Sexual Violence and Forcible Transfer in the West Bank’, documents at least 16 cases of conflict-related sexual violence attributed to Israeli settlers and soldiers over the past three years. The researchers noted that the actual number is likely significantly higher, as survivors often remain silent due to shame, stigma, and fear of retaliation associated with reporting such crimes. 

Victims who have chosen to come forward described harassment, assault, and intimidation inside their own homes, including forced nudity, invasive body cavity searches, exposure of genitals to minors, and threats of rape. Men and boys also reported forced stripping, sexualized humiliation, and degrading treatment. 

More than 70% of displaced households surveyed cited threats to women and children, particularly sexualized violence, as a decisive reason for leaving their homes and communities. 

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Palantir’s Draft Push Collides with Washington’s Automatic Registration Machine

In 1777, Thomas Jefferson warned John Adams that a national military draft would rank among the most hated measures imaginable. Colonists had rebelled against British press gangs. That grievance made the Declaration of Independence. Nearly 250 years on, a $350 billion data giant echoes the idea. Palantir Technologies, fresh off zero federal taxes on $1.5 billion in U.S. income, just called for universal national service. Timing? Perfect. Or ominous.

The company’s manifesto hit X last Sunday. It boils down 22 points from CEO Alex Karp’s 2025 book, The Technological Republic, co-written with Nicholas W. Zamiska. One line stands out: “National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.” (Fortune)

Palantir didn’t invent the draft. America tried it first in the Civil War. Then World War I. World War II. Korea. Vietnam. The last call came December 7, 1972. Jimmy Carter mandated male registration in 1980. Now comes the shift. Starting December 18, 2026, Selective Service goes automatic for men 18 to 26. No forms. No opt-out nudge. Government databases do the work. President Donald Trump’s National Defense Authorization Act locked it in. (Time)

Why now? Compliance dipped. Selective Service says automation streamlines everything, frees staff for readiness. It pulls from Social Security, DMV, student loans, immigration records. Citizens. Immigrants. Undocumented. Dual nationals. Green card holders. All in, within 30 days of turning 18. “This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources,” the agency states. (Newsweek)

Palantir stays silent on direct ties. No contract announced for Selective Service. Yet speculation swirls. The firm holds a $10 billion U.S. Army deal for software and analytics. (U.S. Army) Its platforms run Project Maven, the Pentagon’s AI targeting tool. Reports link it to Gaza strike lists for Israel. (Mother Jones) Over half its revenue flows from government. 2026 guidance? $7.18 billion to $7.2 billion, up 70%.

And taxes. Zero federal in 2025, thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (ITEP) Karp once framed the mission bluntly: “scare enemies and, on occasion, kill them.” (The Guardian) The manifesto adds layers. Silicon Valley owes a “moral debt.” Remilitarize Germany, Japan.

This lands amid the seventh week of U.S. action in Iran. Tensions simmer. Automatic registration isn’t a draft. But it builds the list. Critics see a data grab. Edward Hasbrouck, draft researcher, warns it props up war planning. Selective Service seeks broader data sharing with law enforcement, even abroad. (Hasbrouck.org)

On X, reactions mix alarm and shrugs. One user ties Palantir directly: “They will use existing gov databases (think Palantir) to find and register them.” (X post by @allenanalysis) Another calls it fearmongering: “This has always been a thing… now it is automatic. That is the only change.” (X post by @CarmineSabia) Palantir’s post drew shares, but no company reply to Fortune.

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THE OLD GUARD: War-Obsessed Germany Plans To Call Reservists Up to the Age of 70

70-year-old soldiers?

We have been closely tracking the rapid remilitarization of Germany in the context of the war in Ukraine, and now, with the fraying of NATO ties, the process has become almost frantic.

Early in 2025, we noted that The Bundeswehr Didn’t Have a Single Combat-Ready Division, Leaving Germany Totally Dependent of Stationed US Troops for Defense and Deterrence.

Since then, we reported that Germany Was to Purchase a Thousand Tanks To Try To Turn the Bundeswehr Into Western Europe’s Largest Fighting Force.

Early this year, Germany Approves Major Package of Attack Drones for the Bundeswehr, With a Half a Billion Euro Initial Purchase.

Besides all that rearming, it arose that now, fighting-age men need to register with the military when leaving the country for extended periods of time.

Now, as the militarization expands, we learn that the German Reservist Association is calling for a raise of the age limit for service members to 70 years.

The age limit for reservists is to rise because, according to the Association, many ‘remain productive for longer’.

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